That was a pretty safe bet, glad to see it's happening! Don't anyone get your hopes too high, It's also a safe bet that any scenes he is in take place prior to his confrontation with Loki in The Avengers. Or at least that his presence in them is a recording of some sort.

If he is ever to have a grand re-entrance, expect it to be in a movie.

I think this casting makes me more happy than any other possible casting announcement within the realm of possibility. (i.e. no chance of Sam Jackson and/or Cobie or any of actual Avengers in long-term capacities.) In part since I'd still hold out hope that some Whedon alum would get the chance to be proper superheroes.

"First member cast" seemed initially to me to imply as a regular though, not necessarily just a one-off cameo.

How come, Simon? I mean, Clark Gregg is a TV veteran and he's been an anchor of all the previous Avengers universe films.

ETA: I just reread the article and didn't see any mention of the S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot, only the show. Even though it's likely ABC followed the rules and commissioned the pilot and didn't just give it an initial order of 13 episodes, I don't see anything to suggest that Coulson would only be part of the pilot.

I think i would be upset if Coulson is alive after all. His death was at the center of some of the best scenes in the Avengers. Knowing that it was all an act or something will ruin the movie a little bit for me. It just seems like some bad last minute retcon because they want to have a familiar face headline S.H.I.E.L.D.

Am I the only one a little annoyed by this?
Hopefully Whedon will have something up his sleeve for us, like he only appears in flashbacks or the entire show is set before most of the films (which could be a very cool way not to show any superheroes).
But if it turns out Coulson just didn't die, like they got to him in time and faked his death so he could head up this super-secret off the grid team, that would feel so much like a cheat to me and cheapen the entire ending of the film.
I guess in Whedon I trust.

Autonomous doesn't necessarily mean not in the same universe as. Could just means that they aren't going to be heavily invested in intermixing the two. (I thought the entire point was this was part of the cinematic universe.)

@shapenew I agree, unless Joss completely destroys the body or has an extended dead body scene, I always look for the fake out.

It always seemed like Coulsons death was similar to Cordelia's death in Buffy. The fact that Fury said he was dead before the medics even did anything, the scene cuts away before we see anything official, and we don't see the body for the rest of the movie always made me think that he wasn't dead. I've ha the same theory about Washs death for years.

S.H.I.E.L.D. is secretly Joss' zombie show. Remember when he was asked during SDCC what he'd do in a zombie movie and gave that really interesting answer about switching it up with people knowing there's a cure so you can't just kill 'em? SHIELD are all zombies! :D

We saw Wash's body. It had a huge spear right through it. Dead. Deady dead dead dead. Accept. Otherwise it meant nothing and the film, Zoe's grief, and subsequent comics meant nothing.
And of course we saw Coulson speared right through (contrary to Disney's later claims and edits for some countries...)
Pretty sure S.H.I.E.L.D. don't have a cure for speared-right-through-the-chest-stopped-breathing. Joss states it fairly clearly in the commentary too that he is dead (as well as it not being his fault) and that Fury was shown to be the kind of person who had used the situation in a way that Maria Hill was uncomfortable with.

Setting it before the films (or training videos which was my personal theory too, a la Bennett in Dollhouse) would make for far less of a retcon to Pointlessville.

Too many possibilities. Speculating on what will happen will be like betting on the roulette wheel, which has been rigged by Joss ("zero... everyone loses!").

My vote is still: he was dead, and Fury thinks he is dead. The medics we see rushing in (but don't see in action) manage to bring him back, and the "Council" snuck him away (and "debriefed" in a jail cell for weeks) without informing anyone inside SHIELD. The pilot episode could explore a man who had his life taken away from him (figuratively and literally), with others thinking Coulson was deliberately deceiving them.

(Now I'm thinking of Astonishing X-Men, where they are on a mission for other reasons, when they find an unexpected prisoner on Ord's ship.)

The more I think about it the more it makes sense: no one dies in a comic book, ALL characters can (and most have) been brought back (almost like soap operas). So Fury lied (big surprise) and the medics were able to save him (maybe he'll even have some bionic parts... maybe not). Anyway, this isn't Buffy (where Joss believed in people staying dead but having appearances in flashbacks or being possessed by The First), and the same rules do not apply.

My bet is that SHIELD takes place 1 or two years before the Avengers movie takes place. Perhaps as far back as the first Iron Man movie. If the tv show proves to be successful and last a number of years, this would give them a buffer so that the series isn't too far out from the timeline of the movie.

I agree with Wash's death being final, but that's because that world is a lot more final. The MCU is a lot more silly and fantastical, and well, can you imagine the drama brought about by bringing someone back from the dead? I mean, you guys saw Buffy, right? Imagine how angry Tony would be at SHIELD. It's excellent stuff. Plus Coulson is a perfect lead for an ABC show, and I would love for Clark Gregg to have an hit show on his shoulders.

I never thought he was permenantly dead. Nevermind that people in the real world have survived being stabbed through the torso. We're dealing with an organization with the technology to build the helicarrier, whose medics arrived within seconds of Coulson's apparent demise. Add to the tech & timing that Fury is a master manipulator who needed a push to get his people to pull together. Card Tricks.